


Lights Out

by Muscarie



Series: Rook Asylum [1]
Category: Far Cry (Video Games), Far Cry 3
Genre: M/M, asylum AU, messing with your sanity, outlast vibes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-05-18 00:43:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5891470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muscarie/pseuds/Muscarie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While visiting their brother Grant at Rook Asylum, a mental institute, Jason and Riley Brody are caught between two kinds of storms. The one raging outside, preventing anyone from getting in or out, and the one raging inside, the murderous patient that's just got out of his straitjacket. <br/>And he's coming for Jason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lights Out

**Author's Note:**

> I know, I know, I haven't finished my other far cry story... But I will!! I promise! Just needing to get this out.

"Local communities are told to prepare for the worst, as storm Maggie approaches the coastline. It is expected that the effects of the storm will be felt tonight, and winds and rain should worsen all night and gradually reduce over the course of tomorrow. It is recommended to avoid leaving your home unless absolutely necessary. Sports now, with..."

"Did you hear that?" Asks Riley, clearly alarmed.

"Yeah," replies Jason. "A storm named after a Simpson."

"Should we still be here?" Insists the younger brother.

"Where else would we go?" Snorts Jason. "Look, it will be fine ok? It's storm season. They know what they're doing. I'm sure the staff won't let us get in danger. Besides, Grant is expecting us. We can't just cancel on him like that."

Riley says nothing to that, and Jason looks up. He can see Grant walking into the visits room. Grant looks so different now.

He's only 30, but his experiences at war have turned him into some sort of vegetable, a ghost, almost. He walks by practically unnoticed, quiet, nothing like the strong, reliable role model he'd used to be to his two younger brothers. 

"Hey Grant," greets Jason. "You alright bro?"

It's Jason who does the talking. Riley is always silent, Jason knows his younger brother is unsure what to say. Maybe there isn't much to say. Jason's quite good at chatting anyway, and as long as Grant can see they both are visiting him... It's important.

"So, storm's coming, huh? Storm Maggie. Seriously. I mean, why not storm Bart?"

Grant does not react, but Jason knows he would have laughed, if he still could. He will laugh again.

"How have been doing, buddy?" Asks Jason. He does not expect an answer, but he's sure Grant appreciates him asking. Riley is quiet still, arms crossed, he's turned towards Grant but does not really look at him. "I-we noticed they painted the hallway."

Jason guesses that it must be really awkward for Riley to see the indestructible elder brother turned into a shadow of himself, like he isn't that tough after all. It's hard for Jason too, but if there's one thing they all owe Grant, it's a goddamn hospital visit.

"I'm gonna get Grant some fruit juice." Says Jason, standing up. "You two have a chat."

Visits last between thirty and forty minutes. For regular families, that is, but Jason and Riley make a point of staying for whole afternoons. Their mom comes with them, sometimes, but does not seem to be able to do anything other than sit there tearfully, never speaking. It annoys Jason to no end, but he tries not to snap at her. The staff knows them well by now, lets them hang around, help themselves to coffee. Even the other patients know them, sometimes Jason even sits with them and asks them how they're doing. He knows the nurses too, and doctor Lee. On first meeting Daisy Lee, Jason had done what most people did, which is mistake her for a nurse, and address the actual nurse, Keith, as the doctor. Dr Lee easily waved it off, saying he wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last. She also said to just call her Daisy.  
Daisy is the main doctor on duty, she is always around. She is a lovely woman, in her late twenties, with short blond hair and nice blue eyes. She goes canoeing and rock climbing at the weekend. Grant has a crush on her, Jason is sure of it. Sometimes he even teases him about it.

"Jason," greets Daisy.

"Hey Daisy."

"How are you?"

"I'm good thanks. Just visiting Grant. How about you?"

"I'm well. Having trouble with... The same old cases. Listen Jason, there's a storm on the way, and I think we are going to be shutting the place down pretty soon, so perhaps you could tell Riley visits are going to be over sooner than normal?"

"Yeah no problem. I don't think he'll mind, he never says anything anyway."

Daisy gives him a tight smile. "Sometimes it's hard to know what to say. We see many visitors like that. Here you go," she adds, handing a syringe to Keith. "Y'all be careful, OK? He's off his meds." Keith nods and leaves the room.

"Anything at all. Comment on the fuc-fudging weather, I don't know."

Jason picks up a can of orange juice from the tiny fridge and nods at Daisy before heading back towards his brothers. Already, the wind is picking up, pushing aggressively against the windows. Maybe it will be a nasty storm after all. Jason's brothers are sitting exactly the same way they were when Jason left them, except Riley is not even bothering to look at Grant anymore. What's wrong with him? It doesn't make sense. Riley was always the most caring, thoughtful of the three. Where's this coldness coming from? It wasn't always like this. When Grant first got admitted into Rook for his PTSD, Riley had been there, fully there, but now a year later and with Grant showing no sign of improvement, it's like he's given up. Jason sits back in his chair, puts he juice on the table.

"Riley's a pilot now, aren't you, Riley?"

"Yeah," reluctantly agrees the younger man. "It's been like a year, though."

"I'm still excited." Jason does not lose the joyful tone. He's used to this, he did it for their dad before he died. "Mom is well, baking the neighbours away. I may have landed an internship at a local newspaper, taking pictures and that. Brought my camera, look. It's a..."

But before Jason can actually show the camera to his brother, some raging lunatic's voice booms through the visits room. It's the crazy Mohawk guy with the straitjacket. The poor sod does not even bother with actual words anymore, he just screams his head off. Nurses are retraining him, carefully, he's known for head butting, spitting, biting, and all sorts of nasty deeds. Keith is there, holding the syringe up in the air, aiming at the guy's troat.

"He's being transferred back into high security today, isn't he?" Asks Jason.

"Yeah." Replies Riley. "He killed someone last week."

"What?"

"He made a knife out of big nail he got from somewhere, and he stabbed a guy. A patient."

"What patient?"

"Vincent."

Riley watches Jason's reaction, and Jason is slightly annoyed by that. It's Grant who has to live with these psychos, not them.

"The quiet one with the glasses?" 

"Him."

"Was he one of your friends?" Jason asks Grant, who is looking a bit upset.

"He was." Provides Riley, and sometimes Jason wishes he'd just let their older brother speak. "It's a shame, he was doing better apparently, then he stopped taking his meds."

"I'm asking Gr-"

 

Suddenly, there's an awful lot of shouting. Nurses are on the floor, and the crazy Mohawk guy is running down the corridor, towards them, and for a split second Jason is convinced the guy is looking right at him. Keith is trying to get back to his feet, holding his bleeding nose.   
Vaas - for that's the crazy mohawk guy's actual name - collides into a male nurse and goes down to the floor with him. Immediately, he starts head butting the nurse, again and again, in loud, crunchy noises, and soon enough there's blood on his forehead, on his white straitjacket. 

"Oh shit!" Says Jason, standing up. He pulls Riley behind him, looks at Grant, not sure what to do.

Around them, patients are losing it, some screaming and crying, some cheering and laughing.

"Vaas stop it!" Shouts Daisy. "Keith!"

Keith is charging towards Vaas, syringe in hand. The lunatic rolls to his feet and dodges the nurse' attack, then kicks him, head butts him too. Daisy presses an alarm, more nurses arrive. Once again, as he turns his bloodied face away from his latest victim, Vaas is looking straight at Jason, there's no doubting that. Instead of running to him though, the patient abruptly turns to the left and disappears into a corridor. The one that leads to the kitchens.

"Oh god." Pants Daisy. She pulls a different alarm. "No one leaves!" She yells, "he cannot leave this building!" 

All doors lock. Jason blinks, too stunned to react. What the hell is even happening? 

"Oh god, " is whispering Riley, clinging onto his brother's arm. "Oh god, oh god, oh god..."

Daisy hushes everyone into the visits room and starts manually closing the doors around them.

All visitors huddle together, Jason stays close to Grant. 

"Police will be here any second," says Daisy. "They're just round the corner and I've rung the alarm." They all nod at her, terrified. She's tiny, but at this moment she's sounding like the safest person around.  
Lisa Snow, the only other person to visit almost as often as Jason and Riley, comes closer to them. She visits Oliver, a rehab kid. Jason kind of likes her. She's really beautiful. He always tries to speak to her whenever she is around, and he thinks she likes him too. Now he's kinda regretting not asking her out sooner. Calm down, J, it's all gonna be sorted soon. This will be sorted in like twenty minutes.

"No one can get to us, and no one can get out!" Prophesies Dr Earnheardt. He's not actually a doctor, well, he is, but he doesn't work at Rook Asylum. He's a patient here. Jason follows the old man's gaze towards the weather outside. The sky is so grey it's as if night has fallen hours early. It's looking wild and dangerous.

"Oh god, this is a nightmare!" Whimpers Lisa. Jason wishes he was Grant, then, Grant the soldier, Grant who knows how to make women feel safe.

"Don't worry Lisa, it's gonna be alright, he's only one guy and there's loads of nurses after him..."

As he says that, there's a loud bang and Dr Lee is knocked to the ground as Vaas enters the room before she has time to lock the last set of double doors. He's somehow managed to get himself out of his straitjacket. There's a huge kitchen knife in his hand. His mad eyes, jealous green circled with black, search the room frantically.

He's looking for me, thinks Jason, terrified. He has no idea why, but Vaas Montenegro is obsessed with him. Back in the days, when he was still on his meds and was sitting on his chair all day in front of the TV, drooling, Vaas used to stare at Jason. Every single time. Stare and stare, his green eyes following Jason as he moved about, until he left. As the crazy guy spots him, Jason feels like a rabbit caught in headlights. His heart beats wildly in his rib age, trying to punch its way out, abandoning ship.

"Jason" says Vaas. He laughs.

Without another word, and without any form of warning, Vaas runs towards Jason, knife raised. Everyone screams.

Jason barely has time to push Lisa and Riley to the side as he lifts his arms up defensively, shutting his eyes, waiting for the blow.

It doesn't come. Everything's gone quiet. Then, he hears nurses arrive, and hears Vaas running away, screaming insanities at them.

When he opens his eyes, Jason does not find a knife buried in his chest. There is one though, but it is in Grant's throat. His older brother stepped in front of him and took the hit.

He's bleeding out onto the ugly floor.

"Grant!!"

Jason presses his hands to the wounds, feels the boiling blood curl around his fingers.

"Grant, no, no, wait, stay with me,..."

"Jason let me see,"

"Grant!"

"Jason move your hands, let me see!"

"No!"

"Riley! Lisa! Move him! I need to see!"

Hands are pulling at his shoulders, dragging him away from his brother. Daisy kneels next to Grant, presses her own hands to the wound. Grant stops moving.

"Is he...? Is he...?"

Daisy looks up. "I'm sorry, Jason."

"What? Fuck you! I was holding- I was-"

"The artery was cut, Jason, I-"

There's screaming somewhere in the building. Several more alarms start ringing, coming from the staff room. All lights go out.

All lights go out.

They're trapped.


	2. Good Morning Vietnam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks a lot for the fantastic reaction to the first chapter :) here's the second one, necessary to push things along. I have great plans for this story, hopefully I will carry them out!
> 
> Hope you enjoy :)

Right after the stabbing, when it goes dark, that's when people really lose their minds. Everyone is pushing, screaming, running, and Jason kneels, desperately trying to protect his brother's body from the stampede. Some emergency lights come on, burning red above their heads. 

"Jason!" Riley is shaking him, trying to get his attention. "Jason we need to go! We need to go NOW!"

Jason looks up, ready to snap at Riley, when he sees what's got his brother all panicked. 

Somehow, patients have managed to escape their rooms, patients from the high security part of the building, the corridor to which Vaas has just disappeared in seconds previously. They look angry. Mad. One of them, eyes an unnatural blue, has a bright tattoo on his bare chest. His hands are covered in blood. His luminescent eyes scan the room, he's baring his teeth.

"Jesus" breathes Jason. He lets Riley drag him away into a corridor. Already people are running in every direction, and the two brothers are getting pushed and crushed and grabbed. Jason is tall though, and he manages to push people off of them, Riley isn't doing a bad job either, but poor Lisa isn't so lucky. Despite his best efforts at sheltering her, the young woman is separated from them, and Jason and Riley keep being dragged into the dark corridor, red light making it feel warm and cold at the same time. Where are they even running to? Does anyone actually know?

"In here! Over here!" 

A voice is calling out to them. There's a man standing at the door of an office, he's wearing a scruffy suit. He's waving at them.

"It's safe in here!" He shouts, and Jason pulls Riley into that room. The man shuts and locks the door behind them.

"It's fine, it's all fine," he tells them. He's got a foreign accent. "We're just going to wait here for a little while, until things calm down."

Jason looks at Riley, puts a hand on his brother' shoulder.

"It's ok Riley, it's ok. We're going to be alright." But Riley isn't looking at him. He's looking behind him.

"JASON!" 

Jason doesn't have time to turn around. Something hits him in the head and all goes dark.

 

About a year and a half ago, Jason heard about Grant. It was an awkward thing, Jason had just been told off by his boss about his many absences, and he'd waved it all off as usual, when he'd got a call from his mother, telling him, in her shaky voice, that he had to come to the police station. Grant had been violent.  
Jason still remembers the phone call, because it had dawned on him rather abruptly, as he was kind of busy with normal crap, like that time when they were kids and he'd fallen asleep on the settee in front of the fire and Grant had woken him up with a glass of iced water. You think you're chilled out, relaxed, everything's fine and warm and expected, then suddenly reality pours down on you and it's a slap to the face.  
If there's one thing Jason has learnt from life, it's that it fucks you up when you least expect it. Like that time, years before, when Mrs Brody had been diagnosed with breast cancer and everyone had been bracing themselves, watching her, Jason secretly convinced that death couldn't strike as long as you looked at it, like when in films statues and toys only moved when you shut your eyes. Then his mum got better, and Jason had found his father dead in the shed, he'd shot himself. Jason had almost smiled grimly at death, almost wanted to say 'well played'.

 

When Jason wakes, he's lying on the floor of the office. The door is wide open. There's no sign of his brother, and no sign of the man in the suit. Everything has gone quiet again, apart from the sound of the wind and rain outside. Jason has no idea how long he's been out for. Could be seconds, could be hours. It's got to have been a while, because everything has gone quiet, and the storm is much worse than it was the last time he's looked out. The emergency lights have gone out, the only source of light being the white, greenish rays of light filtering through the tall, barred windows. It must be the lampposts in the yard, because it still seems to be night.

Jason sits up carefully. His head is throbbing but apart from that he is ok. There is a bit of blood on the tip of his fingers when he touches the back of his head, nothing serious. Resisting the urge to call out for Riley, Lisa, Daisy or anyone, Jason takes a quick look around but fails to spot anything that would pass as a weapon. Does he even need one? Perhaps everyone has been evacuated already. Doubtful, judging from the storm outside. But why is it so quiet?

How long has he been out?

Jason stands and exits the room carefully. Nothing. Nobody. Worry for Riley takes over his senses, and the grief of Grant's death hits him in the face like a sucker punch. There's a part of him that is desperately holding on to the possibility that Grant is fine, because the police and the ambulance have arrived despite the storm, and everything has been sorted out. They just forgot him behind.

Who was the guy in the suit?

Jason takes a few steps down the corridor, the way they'd run from, back towards the visits' room. He finds the place empty, tables and chairs knocked over and left there. The orange juice Jason brought Grant during the visit is spilt all over the floor. There's a big dark stain where Grant was killed, but no sign of the body, which is extremely weird. So maybe he has been rescued already?

One try at the doors confirm that they are locked. Sticking his face against the glass, Jason tries to see something, anything, outside the building, but the raging storm just laughs in his face and carries on. As he is considering picking a chair up and attempting to hit the glass and break it, Jason hears something that makes all the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

A scream. Pain? Fear? Definitely not a positive sound.

Woman? Man, actually. But high pitched, so definitely a cry of pain.

When they were kids, Grant, Jason and Riley used to share a room, and for a while they used to share a double bed. Whenever they heard something unusual, or whenever the neighbour's dog would not stop barking, Grant would be the one to investigate, the one to pick up a baseball bat and brave the night and the unknown. That was normal, he was the eldest, after all.

Now Grant is dead, and that makes Jason the eldest, doesn't it?

Jason moves away from the doors and into the darkened hallway, and it's exactly like in cartoons when there are two roads clearly marked "safety" and "danger", and the main character chooses the dangerous path.

Along the corridor, Jason is on edge, he looks around, all senses on high alert, but the screams have stopped and he is starting to wonder if he's even actually heard them at all. Jason is about half way down the corridor, the end of which remains in darkness, when he decides to turn around. Whatever that screaming was, if it ever actually was something at all, it is over. Relaxing slightly, deciding to try the doors again and get some help, Jason starts making his way back towards the entrance of the building when the most terrifying, blood curling scream rings so loud it makes the walls tremble and his insides shake. And there are words, this time, too.

"NO, NO,NO, NO PLEASE NO!!! NO-AAAARGH" 

The rest is unintelligible, breaking into cries and pleas.

If Jason thought he was scared before, if he thinks he has ever been scared in his life, it is nothing compared to the cold, raw, electrifying terror that runs his blood and stabs each pore of his skin, and part of him is amazed at the animalistic reaction he is having. There's more light. More scents. He feels like he's just run a marathon and could easily run another. There's a quiet, steady voice at the back of his mind that calmly says: "good, whatever has got that guy is obviously busy with him, I can get away".

"It could be Riley" says Grant, standing next to Jason, in the corner of his eye, not in direct view.

It's not Riley, Riley doesn't sound like that, and Riley never shouts. He'd cry, not scream.

"It's someone's Riley." Points out Grant, and Jason knows his brother has a point. He knows he will not be able to walk away. He cannot possibly go like this, though. Returning to the visitors room, Jason picks up a chair and slams it as hard as he can against the wall, until it shatters, then he picks one of the legs and holds it up like a baseball bat. 

Braving himself, Jason steps into the shadows. 

A few feet down, all is quiet again, but every time he moves Jason is convinced he isn't alone. He's sure he can hear breathing, shuffling, heck, he can almost hear the way they are looking at him. 

He tries to keep his cool. Turns around. Nothing. Walks a bit further. Shuffling. Breathing. Nothing. 

Then when he stops again, the shuffling doesn't stop, and Jason looks wildly around, because the noise is very close to him, it's on him, but there's nothing and nobody and oh god has he gone crazy?!

When the hand falls on his shoulder and digs in its bony fingers, Jason is so unprepared that he drops his weapon and jumps so hard he hurts his neck and stumbles to the floor. Looking up, he sees four eyes peering down at him from the ceiling, pale, cold eyes, staring right at him, and are they even attached to heads?

"Jason" whispers the ceiling, and whispers it again.

Jason's heart is hurting him, and he feels like crying and laughing and swearing as he recognises Daisy's voice. Hers are the almond shaped eyes, the other paid belongs to Dr Earnheardt. It has to. The Dr's hand extends from the ceiling and down to Jason, followed by Daisy's slender fingers.

"Jason, come up here, it's mad down there! God, I'm so relieved, I thought you were dead!"

Recuperating, grateful he hasn't wet himself, Jason gets up and jumps, letting them pull him into the ceiling. Once he is safely up, Daisy places the aeration grid back and turns to Jason.

"Are you alright?" She asks.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I've been knocked out by some dude in a suit, but I'm alright. God, Daisy, I've lost Riley! And Lisa. And Grant! Who's screaming? Are you both ok?"

"We're fine, we've been hiding up here. Oh god Jason I am so sorry... I don't even know where to start! I guess I'm just glad Vaas hasn't found you yet."

"Vaas?"

"Yes... Come let's not speak here, it isn't safe, follow us."

"Follow us, this way." Adds Dr Earnheardt, his face only inches away from Jason's.

The elderly patient crawls along the ceiling, followed by Daisy and Jason. Eventually, he stops above another aeration grid, lifts it, listens carefully then checks whatever is underneath before dropping down with a graceless thud. Daisy follows suite, then Jason, who immediately starts looking around.

"This is..."

"...a closet." Finishes Daisy. "It is also where the old radio system used to be, and if we can find it and get it working again..."

"Won't anyone try coming in?" Says Jason, pointing at the door.

"No chance, this door is locked. You need this key" she shows him a single little silver key hanging around her neck. "The only way in or out is through the ceiling."

"Or if you smash the door down" light heartedly comments Earnheardt. He looks very much stoned indeed.

Suddenly, Jason feels extremely tired, as adrenaline leaves him all in one go and he slips to the floor, rubbing his eyes. He's lost Riley. He's lost Lisa. Grant is dead. When will the authorities ever manage to come in? What will they find? Where is Grant's corpse? Who the hell would take a corpse? What are they doing to his brother's corpse??

"You said Vaas is looking for me?"

"You really must have been seriously passed out, boy!" says Earnheardt.

"Vaas has been broadcasting around the building on the current radio system," explains Daisy. "Every thirty minutes or so. Jason, he... He's the one who has Lisa."

"What?"

"Vaas has taken Lisa. He's using her to try and lure you in. He broadcasts messages to you, tells you to come and find him, gets Lisa to beg for you to save her... Well, he tries, anyway, Lisa has not been the most cooperative so far."

Jason feels like laughing, because it's just bloody mad. 

"What the hell does he want with me? I don't even fucking know him."

Daisy watches him carefully, a guarded expression on her face.

"... Maybe it is about Grant?" She whispers finally.

"Yeah" snorts Jason, as his heart clenches painfully. "Maybe he wants to apologise, good boy. Is he the one who's taken Grant's body?"

Both Earnheardt and Daisy seem to look very confused at that, so Jason assumes it is a no.

"Never mind. Where's Riley?"

"I don't know, Jason, I am sorry. You said there was a man in a suit?"

"Yeah. I think he had a reddish shirt, and a foreign accent?"

His companions shrug and exchange a confused look, then Earnheardt starts looking at the shelves, all the pills stored there. Jason watches him in silence, there is another question he wishes to ask Daisy, but he's a bit afraid of the answer.

"Daisy... Who's... Who's screaming?"

The doctor visibly shudders and her eyes fill with tears. She wipes her nose with the back of her hand and looks away, avoiding Jason's gaze.

"It's Keith." She says, her voice breaking slightly at the end. "I think Buck Hughes has got him."

"Poor boy" laments Earnheardt, before popping open a little container and extracting a yellow pill which he then consumes eagerly, like candy.

Daisy looks at him like she's wondering whether to stop him or not, but then she looks down, defeated.

 

"Buck Hughes?" Gently enquires Jason.

"A patient here. A very dangerous and violent one. He's developed a bit of an obsession with Keith, like Vaas with you."

Jason grabs his head, buries his fingers in his thick, spiky hair. He remembers Vaas' intense gaze, fixed on him, following him around the room, as the Mohawk bearing patient sat motionless in his chair, a line of drool tracing down his chin.

"What is this... What is even... Has Vaas been like this for a while?"

"Like this, you mean, obsessed with you?" Jason nods. "A while, yes. He... Yes. He seems very much obsessed with you. There's no explaining it, and it certainly has nothing to do with you."

"Doesn't it?" Sasses Jason.

"It's not your fault, is what I mean!" Snaps Daisy, and for the first time Jason really appreciates how exhausted she looks. He's just that little bit too angry to care, though.

"So I come every other day and sit in the same room as some psycho who's obsessed with me, and no one tells me about it?"

"We can't just-!"

"He's obviously some murderous, blood crazed madman, you move him from high security, he somehow stops taking his medication and he kills my brother, and now all hell has broken loose and poor Keith, Lisa and Riley could be dead, and someone has stolen my brother's corpse!!! Well fucking done,doc!"

"Jason!" Cries out Daisy, tears streaming down her face. "You are not being fair! I am so, so sorry, but there was no way I, we, could have known! He had shown massive improvements, weeks ago, and we have to follow the procedure! I couldn't have known, Jason! He hadn't uttered your name in weeks, I couldn't have known! After that awful incident with Vincent on Wednesday we were moving him back three days later, following procedure, I am sorry it had to happen on visitors d-"

She stops suddenly, her eyes widening in realisation.

"Is that... Is that what he was planning-oh my god!" She bursts into tears, and the sight of the normally calm and collected doctor, sitting on the cold floor with her head in her hands, her whole body shaking with violent sobs, finally breaks through Jason's anger.

"Daisy..." He starts, feeling like an ass. "Daisy, I'm sorry, I'm just really worried and-"

"Good moooorning Vietnam!" A voice booms through the silent buildings.

"Vaas" explains Daisy, sniffing.

"Except it's not morning. And this is not Vietnam." The Hispanic sounding patient chuckles at his own joke. His voice is slightly distorted by the radio system, but there is no mistaking it. Vaas. "So, welcome back to my show. Today we have our special guest, Lisa, big Hollywood actress. Say hi Lisa."

"Fuck you" cries Lisa.

"Fuck me? My, my, ladies aren't what they used to be. So, Jason. Hermano. Where are you? I'm here with lady Lisa and we're waiting for you, papi. Hear that?" There's a wet noise, like water in a container. "That's petrol, hermano. You got two hours to show up here, in the main staff room on east wing. If not, I burn our lady actress here. Your call, hermano. Oh and Jason?"

Daisy and Earnheardt mouth out the words as Vaas whispers them, a sickeningly loving touch to his voice.

"I miss you."


	3. Chill Pill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jason takes a chill pill, and saves poor Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been 89 years and I have no excuse. Very sorry. I own nothing.
> 
> Thank you for all the positive feedback, not going to lie, probably wouldn't have continued the story without your great response to it :)
> 
> Watch out for mentions of sexual violence (Buck in the place).  
> Beginning of the chapter is set in a different timeline, not telling you yet if it's before or after.
> 
> More Vaas next chapter :) hope you enjoy!

"Hey," says the tall guy with blue eyes as he nears Abby's desk. "Have you got any rooms for tonight?"

Abby' eyes jump from the blue eyed guy to this... Friend. The other guy has a black eye and a split lip, dark bags under his manic eyes. He's got a Mohawk, and Abby has never actually seen anyone with one in real life.

"Sure. Double bed or two queens?"

"Two queens" says Blue Eyes, exactly at the same time as Black Eye says "double". Blue Eyes scowls at Black Eye and insists: "ignore him. Two queens, please."

"Sure" says Abby, pretending to check the availability. No one ever books in to this tiny motel in the middle of nowhere. No one but the occasional customer and prostitute, or the couple of foreign backpackers.

"Ok, whatever you say, J. Queen size is more cosy anyway." Purrs Black Eye as he snakes an arm around Blue Eyes' waist, nuzzling Blue Eyes' ear with his nose. He is roughly pushed away and stumbles backwards, chuckling. Blue Eyes throws Abby an embarrassed look and she pretends not to have seen anything.

"Wow tough love, hermano!"

"Actually make it two rooms."

*

Jason breaks the glass and picks the hatchet off the wall. Checks his watch.

One hour and forty three minutes left.

The plan is to climb into the ceiling again and make his way to Lisa. He'd beat Vaas, somehow, then come back with Lisa and they'd get Daisy and Earnhardt before escaping. If they managed to help more nurses and doctors on the way, all the better. If not, well, this was a crisis situation, and it was survival of the fittest.

Speaking of the fittest.

"Vaas... Is he like, tough?"

The question is met by bewildered silence.

"Is he tough?" Repeats Jason, irritated.

"Well... To escape, he would have had to overpower four male nurses, whilst having his arms in a restraining jacket. I'll let you make your own conclusions."

"He is a little bit shorter than you," comments Dr Earnheardt. "But definitely heavier."

"Not to mention, crazy." 

The word almost sounds like a swearing out of Dr Lee's mouth, the doctor being known for her legendary dislike of the term. She must have sensed the disapproval oozing off of her audience because she adds:

"He's limitless, I mean. There isn't a length he won't go to, there isn't a line he won't cross."

"He killed my brother. My younger brother is somewhere in here with some crazy lunatic. He's about to burn alive the girl I like. I'm feeling pretty limitless too, right now."

When his outburst is met only by silence, Jason starts climbing back into the ceiling.

"I'll come back for you two." He tells them. If I can, he doesn't add.

"Jason, wait!"

Daisy is on her tiptoes, handing him a box of something. Pills.

"Take these. They're... They'll help you stay awake and alert."

It sounds a bit odd, but Jason takes the pills.

"I'll come back." He repeats.

Then he's gone.

Crawling along the ceiling, Jason loses track of time and space a bit, and starts wondering how long he's been going for, and if he's actually just gone into a bit circle. He passes above various rooms and they all look exactly the same to him, then the greenish, bleachy light of the neons makes his head turn and he takes a pill. 

About half an hour later, or maybe it was 10 minutes, Jason stops just at a crossroad. Under him, on his left, is a badly lit room where all the furniture has been knocked over, and under him, on his right, is a pristine looking room where nothing has been disturbed. There's a sign on the wall, it's a fire escape map. Squinting, Jason manages to decipher the map: east wing. The staff room is a bit further to the right. Nearest escape route is through to the second reception.

Jason is about to set off again when a loud noise on his left stops him dead in his tracks.

Looking down, he sees the male nurse, Keith, his nose bloody and his top torn, running into the room and throwing himself on the floor, behind a fallen table. He looks positively terrified. Jason sees him covering his mouth with his hand, trying to stay quiet. What's he running fr-?"

"Oh, Keith?"

The Australian voice rings down the corridors, too close for comfort.

"Keith? Keith!" It grows angry. "Stop playing now mate, come here. Keith!"

Jason watches, horrified, as tears roll down Keith' s cheeks and Buck enters the room where he is hiding.

"You in here, mate? I can smell you, you slippery little whore."

Jason does not think. As quietly as possible, he opens the grid on his right, takes off his belt and throws it into the room as hard as he can manage under the circumstances.

The belt knocks a vase over, and Buck lifts his head like a dog and runs out of the room Keith is in, only to reappear almost immediately into the next room, sniffing the air comically.

Jason lifts the panel on his left and gestures wildly at Keith who spends way too long just staring up at him in surprise. Eventually, he snaps out of it and jumps up to catch the hand Jason is desperately throwing him. The nurse is heavier than Jason expected, but with much kicking they manage to get him up. Forgetting all safety, Keith breaks down in tears.

"Oh god," he sobs, "oh god, thank god, Jason, thank God!"

"Shh, shh!"

It's no use, Buck has disappeared from the other room and is most probably making his way back, following the commotion.

"You ok? Jesus..."

Jason sees it, now. The blood. The blood everywhere. The blood stains on Keith's trousers, and the bruises around his wrists.

"Don't tell anyone," whispers Keith feverishly. "Jason don't tell."

"Here you are!!"

Buck's hand shoots up, followed by his head, his manic eyes shining brightly when they fall on Keith then narrowing when they notice Jason. Keith kicks Buck in the face but misses a bit, and Buck still holds on to the ceiling, his legs dangling in the air. Jason sees it now, his shirt is open and his trousers undone. Some sort of ancient, primal version of anger bubbles inside of him and he grips his hatchet, then slams the end of it hard into Buck's face. The guy lets go.

 

Jason doesn't.

He isn't sure how, but he falls into the room with Buck and they both end up on the floor, and Jason's hands search for the hatchet straight away, whilst Buck gets to his feet and produces a knife out of nowhere.

"Come on then, mate. Think you can take my Keith from me, hey?"

Jason's head feels weird. The neon lights hurt but they make everything clear and blurry, bright and dark. They circle each other, and it feels like a dance, Jason is mad and he's angry and he's ready to kill.

"He liked it, you know. He liked it."

Jason doesn't want to know what 'it' is. He charges.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reunion. In which a deal is struck!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't even express how impressed I am at the amazing response to this story. So, so glad people are actually reading this.
> 
> I hope you enjoy :)

"Here you go, want any mush with that mush?" Jokes Mitch as he serves a generous portion of food to the poor guy in front of him. Druggy, this one, no doubt. One look at the eyes is all it takes. Mitch is used to drug addicts. They make up about 80% of the homeless people he feeds daily at the local Helping Hand. Druggies, refugees, prostitutes, and the occasional runaway teenager. Sometimes, they're all these things at once. The guy is avoiding looking at him and Mitch offers him a kind smile anyways. Then, he sees the next guy. 

Well, it's not exactly the next guy, this one is about three people down the line.

It's not a druggy, not a refugee, he's too old to have run away and he isn't dressed like a prostitute. He looks groomed, alert, fit. Ok, maybe a bit rough, but nothing like the people you normally get at the Helping Hand. Mitch takes a good look, intrigued. Blue eyes, brown hair, styled, the tall, sporty kind. What is he doing here? Even the guy's eyes seem to be scanning over everything and wondering, too, what the hell he is doing here.

"What the fuck you looking at, hermano?"

Mitch jumps. The druggy in front of him has stopped moving along, and he is focused on him, and him only. He's got a Mohawk, a massive scar over his head, green eyes set in dark. Hispanic. Probably an ex gang member.

"I wasn't looking at you, man, it's ok. Want a top up?"

"I know what you were looking at, fucker."

The guy is livid. He's shaking with anger. Mitch raises his hands in peace, keeps his voice calm, like you do with druggies and the gang, violent type.

"Dude, relax, I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."

"You're staring at my Jason."

There's a short moment of bewilderment, then Mitch gets it.

"Oh sorry, bro, I didn't mean to stare at your friend, I just kinda spaced out."

"Don't lie to me, hermano. You were staring at Jason. And I ain't your fucking bro."

Mitch resists the urge to point out that bro and hermano mean the same thing, and instead picks up his most appeasing, calm voice to say:

"I am very sorry. I didn't mean to make any of you feel uncomfortable. I just spaced out a little."

"You were staring, you were thinking, what is this little white boy doing here in this shithole with this asshole, isn't that right, Mitchell?"

He's read my tag, thought Mitch, strangely panicked, he's read my tag, he knows my name.

Vaas!" 

It's the guy with the blue eyes, Jackson or something, he's trying to make his way over to them.

"I-I didn't even know you two were together, I just-"

"Isn't that right?! HUH?!"

"I'm sorry, ok?! Yeah, you're right, I was looking, I didn't mean it in a bad way, I just thought he doesn't look the type!"

"What fucking type, huh? You don't look at him, amigo."

"Vaas!"

"Look, again, I'm sorry, but you need to ch-"

A canon ball hits Mitch's face at full speed, and he barely has time to realise he's been head butted before he passes out.

 

*

 

When Jason comes to his senses again he takes a pill, a chill pill, take a chill pill, mum! that's what Grant dared to say when he was seventeen and he came home drunk, way before he joined the army, and Buck has stopped talking. Keith is still in the ceiling and Jason tells him where to find Daisy.

"Where are you going?"

Buck is on the floor, covered in blood. What happened?

"I'm looking for my brother. And Liza," he abruptly remembers, "I'm looking for Liza. That psycho, Vaas, has her and wants to kill her, unless I go to him."

Keith marks a significant pause, before speaking in a rushed whisper.

"You don't wanna go to him, Jason."

How does Keith know his first name? How do I know Keith's first name? Jason sasses himself.

"He's about to burn Lizq alive." Jason picks up his hatchet. "Go find doctor Lee."

Jason leaves, not wanting to hear the very reasonable protests he knows Keith is about to emit. He thinks he hears Keith yelling "trust nothing" after him, but he isn't quite sure. 

The corridors are dark, lit only by the emergency red and green bulbs, and the occasional flash of lightning from outside. Now that Keith is gone, and Buck is-is- is gone, too, everything seems eerily quiet. Jason tries to move fast, not let himself get intimidated, and he jogs as quietly as possible down the corridors. He follows signs for the east wing, then once he reaches it, staff room.

Listening carefully, Jason sneaks up to the door, all senses on high alert, his heart beating wildly in his chest. One look inside through the glass door and he sees Liza, drenched in petrol, tied up to a chair. She's crying, shaking her head as she tries to avoid Vaas' petting. 

Maybe he's drunk on his recent victory over Buck Hughes, but it takes all of Jason's mental strenght not to just rush in there and attack Vaas straight away. Instead, he tears his eyes away from the scene and looks around in the semi darkness. If he could distract Vaas, get him away from that petrol, and retrieve Liza, it would be a great start. Then, obviously, there would be the small matter of fleeing the asylum, retrieving his brother on his way out.

Jason's first thought is to go away, record himself calling out to Vaas from his cellphone, placing the cellphone somewhere and playing the recording. Then he realises that Vaas would hear him record the thing in the first place, probably. Or maybe not. Can his phone do that? Everything is metltong around in his head. So instead, Jason picks up a piece of broken chair from the ground, and throws it as hard as he can towards the opposite corridor. He bends behind the rest of the chair to hide from Vaas. 

It goes quiet in the room, because the piece of wood made a really loud noise, and it collided with a pile of chairs, placed there like a barricade, and everything has fallen to the ground in the loudest mess Jason has ever heard. 

Twelve seconds pass.

The door opens, and Jason hardly needs to look up to see who it is.

The psycho is right there, and he looks tall from this angle. He's looking towards the noise, and he looks back towards where Jason came from, his eyes scanning the space above Jason. He misses him. Vaas looks like he's hesitating, unsure which way to follow. Clearly, he's not as dumb as Jason thought, because eventually he sets off in the direction opposite to the one where the piece of wood landed. He storms past Jason without seeing him. 

As soon as Vaas has disappeared round the corridor, Jason rushes into the room and runs to Liza's side.

"Liza!"

"Jason?!"

"It's ok, I'm here to get you out. You hurt?" 

Jason fumbles with the ropes around Liza's body, trying to find where the knots start. The smell of petrol is giving him a light head.

"You hurt?"

"I'm ok, I'm ok," she sobs. "Jason you shouldn't be here... Oh my god, I'm so sorry..."

"I'll avenge him." Replies Jason through gritted teeth.

For a second, Liza looks back at him with confusion written all over her face, before her eyes catch sight of something behind and above him and widen in pure terror. Jason does not even have time to turn before he is roughly grabbed by the neck, his head twisted to the side, another strong arm snaked around his body and pinning his own arms against his body. He is taller than Vaas, but the psycho kicks him in the shins and Jason falls to his knees.

"Hey Jason." Vaas' breath is hot against his skin. "Hey, papi." Something wet and hot rolls up along Jason's neck and into his ear and he yells out in anger and disgust when he realises it is Vaas' tongue. Teeth grate his earlobe before the psycho practically bursts his eardrum by shouting directly into his ear: 

"DID YOU REALLY THINK I WAS THIS FUCKING STUPID!!?"

Jason is thrown to the floor and something hits him across the head.

When he wakes up, he is also tied to a chair, next to a whimpering Liza. Vaas is pouring petrol everywhere now, and he talks to himself.

"Oh good, you're awake Jason, you're awake!" He laughs like a maniac, leaning into Jason then leaning back to dodge the head butt Jason sends him. "I know you're angry. I get it. I tie you up to a chair, it's not nice. I get it. But did you even stop, Jason, did you even stop. To think. ABOUT HOW FUCKING ANGRY I MUST BE??" He explodes, throws the petrol container away. Slaps Liza across the face. "YOU CAME ALL THIS FUCKING WAY, FOR THAT BITCH!? You wanna die for that bitch, Jason? Is that what you want, papi?" 

"You said you'd let her go." Jason is amazed at his own calm. "You said if I came, you'd let her go. I'm here now, Vaas. Let her go!"

Vaas laughs, a form of hysterical desperation leaking through. 

"Yeah, but, hermano. You ain't really here. You don't know. You don't remember. You might as well be BALLS DEEP IN HER!!" He picks up his lighter and the flame comes up. Fumes of petrol, into Jason's lungs.

"Then show me! Alright?! I'll do anything, I'll-I'll- I'll go with you. You can show me- whatever it is I can't remember, alright? Just let her go, first."

Vaas looks like he's gone all limp suddenly, and he looks at Jason.

"Really, Jason?"

"Yeah."

"You wanna give this a chance?"

He's gesturing at the space inbetween them.

What fuck is even-?

Just say yes, Jason, for christ sake, get him away from Liza!

"Yeah. I'll give this a chance. I tell you what, let's make a deal, Vaas, OK? What do you want?

"For you to remember this. Us."  
Jason resists the urge to yell insults, or even just roll his eyes. "Right. I want to rescue my other brother. The one you didn't kill. Let me do that, then I'll... I'll go away with you. I'll remember. But you let her go first."

Vaas brings the light up to his eyes, stares into the flame. Then, with a big great dramatic gesture, he shuts the lighter and throws it away. He shakes Jason's tied up hand.

"Deal, pretty boy. Deal."


End file.
